


Under the Moons of Darillium: Part 15 Doctor Docent

by Stardance1



Series: Under the Moons of Darillium: A Night of Adventures [15]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), The Diary of River Song (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/M, Post Darillium, Post-Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song, Singing Towers of Darillium
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-22
Packaged: 2019-10-14 11:28:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17507741
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardance1/pseuds/Stardance1
Summary: River has returned to lecture at the University, and the Doctor has decided to volunteer as a docent at the local Museum. What trouble will he find, can River save the day, and the biggest question: how will the Doctor  manage the Museum tour groups?





	Under the Moons of Darillium: Part 15 Doctor Docent

**Author's Note:**

> Please note that this is part 15 of a series.

The Doctor and River’s bedroom on the Tardis was awash in the twinkling glow of candle light.  
Soft auras of red and orange cast dancing waves of shadow and light upon their skin.  
River Song moaned softly and then rested her cheek on the Doctor’s forehead as he continued to nuzzle her breasts and trace kisses higher across her chest and neck. She tightened her arm around his shoulder and then shifted her weight slightly in his lap, resulting in a ripple of pleasure that traveled through him and back to her.  
It was a surge that rose like an electric current through her core, and then washed over them both like a crescendo of titian flames.  
Breathing in ecstasy they would exhale sublime satiety.  
River smiled and bowed her head, resting it in the crevice of the Doctor's neck.  
There reposed, she opened her eyes and feasted at the sight that surrounded her.  
Hours before, when she had entered their room, hundreds of long taper candles had illuminated the path to their bed.  
The Doctor had placed many dozens of gothic candelabras all around the room. They varied in height and styling, some simple and tall, and others stately and ornate.  
On her nightstand, a beautiful handheld wrought iron example stood proudly, with eight candles still flickering their final flames, while a few others had only the glow of their embers remaining.  
Ribbons of melted wax left crisscrossed colored trails across the tables and floor, symbolically highlighting the interwoven paths of their timelines.  
Her breath was warm and caressing against his skin.  
She waited until at last she felt the rhythm of his hearts tame before speaking. Her voice, breathless with wonder, she inquired, “How ever did you manage all of this?”  
He leaned back on the headboard, resting his upper back and shoulders but not yet willing to release her from his embrace.  
“Have you ever been to the Wishing Well star cluster River?”  
“No.”  
He looked over at her and smiled, “In all my traveling throughout the Universe, it became one of my favorite places. A place of sanctuary at times. The cluster is made up of about 400 stars, and at its center, almost like a river, there is a corridor of red giant stars that seem to cascade into an immense pool of blue light. But when you’re right there in their midst, looking out from the Tardis doors... there is an orange glow... like being swathed at once in a million million perfect sunsets… or …”  
“Or… like having your beloved seduce you in a candlelit room?”  
He looked at her for a moment, wistfully, and then closed his eyes. His eyebrows furled slightly and he let his head fall back against the headboard... “I’d love to take you there someday.”  
She kissed him then, softly nibbling the worry away his lips.  
She swept her tongue across his mouth until he moaned and opened to her. She ran her fingers through his hair and pulled him closer, drinking him in, tasting the eternity of the heavens in his wish for her.  
“And … I’d love to be taken…” she whispered back to him.  
A sound reverberated in his chest, half groan half growl, and he knelt up and moved her against the headboard. He held her there with his hands and his body, pinned her there with his lips, reached and lunged into her with all that he was.  
She wanted to scream out his name, but in that moment words fell away and lost meaning; their eyes, their hearts, their souls and hips, fused together.  
Time and space, matter and void, future and past, it didn’t matter because they were indivisible.  
Delectably entwined, they fell back into their mound of pillows at the foot of the bed.  
The room had grown dark.  
River stretched her legs out luxuriously, and then ran her pointed toes along the Doctor’s long, firm calf muscles.  
“Sweetie, we’ve played the last hours of our holiday away. I have teach soon…”  
“You can sleep two or three hours yet before you have to get ready…”  
River yawned and then laughed… “I’ll never get up…”  
The Doctor reclined on one elbow; leaning over, he brushed the curls away from her face… “Or, you could stay… Nardole can do this lecture…”  
River grinned, seriously tempted she turned her face slightly away from him and tried helplessly to resist.  
The Doctor seeing this of course, enticingly ran his fingertips softly across her shoulder and down to the tips of her hand.  
Her breath caught and she turned back toward him.  
In his mind's eye he could sense the flash of heat that was pooling in her eyes, hear her tongue moisten her lips, and feel the sharp inhalation of her breath; a split second later she had nimbly moved herself over him.  
Her thighs brushed his legs as she straddled him, and the innate magnetic pull between them brought his hands to steady her there.  
She bent her face down and ran her tongue gingerly along the rim of his ear, stopping to nibble the earlobe, she whispered… “Well really, who needs more than an hour’s sleep anyway…”  
His lips broke into a wayward smile a hairsbreadth before her mouth encircled them.  
Who indeed, he thought to himself.  
Who indeed.  
__________________________  
“River!”  
Still asleep, her body responded to the sonorous sound of the Doctor's voice.  
Her mouth spread into a gentle smile, and with each soft breath she seemed to incline herself closer to his side of the bed.  
Her hands awoke first, her fingers eagerly searching the silky coolness of the bedding for the warmth of his skin.  
Finding only emptiness a small shiver of regret traveled up her spine.  
She opened her eyes at once.  
The lights were on in their room and the Doctor stood next to the bed, a plate full of muffins in his hand and a pristine dress shirt and vest overlaid protectively by a prim spotless apron.  
River's eyes twinkled.  
“Delicious!” she said, reaching out for his waist, her eyes traveling slowly down the handsome figure that he cut and the slim fit seams of his trousers.  
He gave her a wry smile and took a wide step back, out of her reach.  
“I’ve parked the Tardis in your office River. Your lecture starts in half an hour, and Nardole is already out there polishing off the last of your vanilla scones.”  
Her eyes widened, she jumped out of bed and ran toward her closet.  
Halfway there she thought better, turned back, ran into the Doctor’s arms. She planted a passionate kiss squarely on his lips and grabbed a muffin before turning back to her closet.  
“I need five minutes!” she called out behind as she scrambled along.  
“I’ll have a cup of coffee waiting outside.” the Doctor shouted back. He chortled to himself before turning toward the kitchen with his remaining muffins.  
______________________________  
River emerged from their bedroom walking rapidly in a calm but determined pace. The heel click of her stilettos echoed through the corridors of the Tardis.  
As she strode toward the Doctor, she snapped closed the clasp of her golden braided-herringbone bracelet onto her left wrist.  
She wore a white linen dress, tea length with a deep V neckline. From its three quarter length sleeves to the way it draped over each of her curves, it was unquestionably bespoke, and classically timeless.  
With a deep scowl, the Doctor passed her the steaming cup of coffee he’d been patiently waiting to hand her.  
“That’s the most impractical thing that I’ve ever had the pleasure to see you wear!”  
She grinned. “Thank you my dear, I like it too.”  
She took a loud sip, and then licked her lips.  
It was very good coffee.  
“So what plans do you have while I’m in class husband?”.  
There was a short pause while he continued to fully take in her appearance…, “Well Professor Malone, I have to stop by the radio telescope to fix it again…”  
She chuckled loudly and then coughed ever so slightly in a ridiculously poor attempt to cover her mirth.  
He gave her a grim irascible smile before continuing… the low gravel of his voice deepened and his words seemed more trepidatious…, “And then… I’ll be stopping off at the University museum and gallery.”  
River stared agape for a second, unsure if she’d heard correctly or was still abed dreaming… but then smiled, encouraging him to continue. “Whatever for?” she asked.  
“I’ve decided to volunteer… to lead tours and that sort of thing… as a docent.”  
She grinned, evidently much more pleased with the idea than he was.  
The Doctor continued...“Well, you said that we should occupy our time more constructively while we’re here on Darillium.”  
River loudly slurped the last drops of coffee.  
She looked up at him and fluttered her lashes, still grinning, “Oh, did I say that?”  
His eyes narrowed at her as he took the emptied cup out of her hands, “You know that you did.”  
She reached up and straightened the collar of his shirt, “Well it was a brilliant suggestion…”  
Then she looked momentarily stricken…  
“What is it River…?”  
“Your lunch…”  
“What of it?”  
“You packed my lunch for my first lecture…I should have made you something...”  
Their eyes met.  
The Doctor shook his head softly and bopped her nose.  
“Don’t worry, another day.”  
She reached up and kissed his cheek before turning and running to the Tardis doors. “I’ll try to come and check in on you between my lectures… Good luck with the visitors!”  
"No need", he said to himself as he poured a cup of coffee into the mug which he had taken from her.  
Steam curled around his face as he sipped.  
None whatsoever...  
___________________________  
The Doctor was still mussing an hour later as he completed the finishing touches on the radio telescope.  
Before kicking off the recalibration process, he sat stoically for a moment in front of the control panel.  
Just one last piece, he thought as he slid in a new microprocessor chip that he’d designed. He snapped the panel lid shut and turned the console on.  
Immediately lights and sounds burst forth from the machinery, the monitors came to life and began logging line after line of data.  
He’d love the opportunity to be alone with his thoughts, but whispers of admiration began to crowd him from behind.  
He signed and turned around, the small room that had been mostly empty when he arrived was now packed up to the rafters with research fellows.  
"There you go boys, even better than the last time that I fixed it…”  
They stared at him, and the head researcher tilted his head slightly in confusion, “last time?”  
"Yes well, never mind you’re all set now.”  
“Will you stay and…”  
“No, thank you.”  
He picked up his suede burgundy coat and put it on. “I’ve got a few places I need to get to…,” after seeing the disappointment spread across the room, River’s influence and his kindness won out and he amended, "but perhaps I can come back another day…”  
Dozens of handshakes and pats on the back later, he strode into the Tardis and made himself a quick cup of tea. Walking with it in hand, he moved to the console and tapped a few buttons.  
The Tardis engine hummed approvingly, and the remote connection he’d made with the radio telescope went live.  
If any emergency arose in this quadrant of the galaxy again, he’d know.  
But right now that wasn’t his top concern.  
He entered new coordinates into the mainframe and pressed the required key to initiate the move in space.  
The Tardis was now stationed back on the University campus, at the entrance of the Museum and Gallery.  
______________________________________________  
It wasn’t his love of museums, or River’s encouragement, that in the end had made up his mind to begin volunteering…  
When he and River had arrived on Darillium he was only too happy to let himself believe that fate had finally dealt them a winning hand with no strings attached.  
But it wasn’t that easy, it could never be for them.  
This wasn’t a simple romantic story. Sorry wrong genre.  
A year into their long night more than a few dragons had already emerged from the shadows.  
And for her safety, more than his, he needed to snap back into reality and find out exactly why they’d been brought to Darillium. What was their role here, what should they be preparing to face? He knew it wasn’t just the Daleks and the Weeping Angels and the Voord, there was something else coming, something much more sinister.  
He slid his index finger slowly across his lips as he contemplatively reflected.  
River had gone back to lecturing as a way to keep her ear to the ground, and the Doctor could definitely do his part at the Museum and Gallery.  
He balanced his empty teacup and saucer on the console room railing, fixed his jacket, and stepped into the breathtaking glass rotunda.  
_________________________________  
The Museum and Gallery rotunda was a spectacular feat of architectural glass.  
It rose five stories high, and was topped with a monochromatic aquamarine dome of opalescent glass.  
The curvature of the all-glass entrance provided an endless vista to the Darillium sky; and the indigo stained wooden floors shone like the sea in high gloss.  
Glass winding staircases grew like vines from the floor, and were supported by crystal columns of prismatic glass.  
All together it fostered an atmosphere of resplendent light reminiscent of the clear azure glow of glacial caves.  
At a glance the Doctor could see that the first several floors were the designated “museum” area. Historical artifacts from across the five star galaxy system could be seen in the ornate floor to ceiling display cases that lined the back walls. He was pretty sure there was even a large piece of the Harmony and Redemption wreck that he could make out hoisted to the ceiling of the third level.  
The art galleries on the upper floors held famous prints, paintings, and sculptures, most of which he easily recognized.  
Just to the right of the main reception and ticketing desk was the office of the curator.  
He walked over, and rapped three times in quick succession on the heavy oak door.  
Odd he thought to himself, that in a building worshipping glass, this heavy barrier didn’t seem out of place to anyone but him….  
The door opened, and short man in a pinstripe blue suit greeted the Doctor. The pale blue dress shirt matched the ghostly blue of his eyes, and the rather obscene red tie matched the dazzlingly new shiny red pointed oxfords on his feet. The Doctor shuddered to imagine what color socks he wore.  
“Can I help you?” the white haired gentleman inquired.  
“Yes, thank you,” the Doctor responded, pulling out a piece of psychic paper from his inside jacket pocket and handing it to the Curator. “I am interested in becoming a docent.”  
“My, my, my!” the Curator responded, his face breaking into a smile and causing a cascade of wrinkles from the top of his balding head to the wide corners of his mouth. “It says here that you are the husband of Professor Melody Malone, famous archeologist! You have honorary degrees from many planets in the five galaxy star system, and other excellent credentials from prestigious universities!”  
The Doctor blinked blankly for a second, then extended his arm to the Curator. “It’s my pleasure, I’m known as the Doctor. And you are?”  
“Molesworth, Karl S. Molesworth at your service.” He reached out and shook the Doctor’s hand.  
“Mr. Molesworth, it would be my pleasure to serve as a volunteer here at the University Museum and Gallery.”  
“You are most welcome Doctor, I am a great admirer of your wife. Her students love her and she’s very easy on the eyes…”  
“There’s a lot there to admire. She’s brilliant.”  
“Of course, yes. But you would be qualified to teach at the University, or work here full time if you like, why just volunteer?”  
“We like to give back. I can volunteer when she’s in class, help out in the back, with research or anything you need.”  
“Well, docents generally begin learning about the items on different levels and after 40 or so hours of training, can lead tours on their own.”  
The Doctor smiled and nodded. “Of course, whatever you need.”  
__________________________________________  
Three hours later River walked slowly through the campus quad, incognito.  
She had her hair tucked into an old dark brown fedora, and over her puffer jacket she wore a long tan trenchcoat, wrapped tightly around her waist and neck.  
Snow was falling over the campus, and fluffy masses fell from the dark cloudless sky. The light from the moons of Darillium would catch on the drifting snowflakes, which fell like astral glitter, or perhaps like fairy dust from the tail of passing comets, coating each tree branch and blade of grass in wonder. Even with the cold, River loved the soft crunch of snow as it echoed from beneath her steps. She could see her breath in the cold air, and so she joined her wishes to the wisping winds as they blew through time.  
When she got to the University Museum and Gallery building, she climbed the stairs and paid the fee.  
From the glass rotunda she could see a large group assembled in the top floor art gallery, and she figured that she should commence her search for her husband there.  
Covertly, she wandered through, casting glances here and there from under the rim of her hat.  
Finally she arrived at the group and hid herself discretely behind a glass column.  
She strained slightly to listen…  
___________________________  
The Doctor was leading a tour of about thirty museum visitors, with an added ten docents-in-training following him around madly scribbling down notes, including someone with a uniform River could only assume was the Docent manager, making annotations to her official binder.  
The Doctor moved to the next painting, and closer to River’s earshot….  
“These are two final works we’ll be looking at today in the Self-Portrait Gallery, or the Selfie Room as most of you call it…” A round of laughter wafted through the crowd…  
“This one here is by Albrecht Durer, a famous artists from Sol III in Mutter’s Spiral. It is a print of an oil painting completed in local Earth year 1500. At that time, the artist was just 28 years old; an age he was rumored to believe, at which one’s beauty would peak. Interested in capturing that, he painted himself facing the canvas directly. This was not typical for that time… most drawings were done in profile. But, this painting is not just his masterpiece of technique, but also a masterpiece of his cultivated image. Durer was a very sly business man, most other artists were going around painting religious iconography, but as a humanist he painted a glorious version of himself in that same style, he created a recognizable brand with his signature and didn’t hide it in a corner, but placed it right at eye level. When he sold these prints they became an early form of business cards, where he proudly turned himself from artist into art…. Earlier in another gallery we saw some work from the Italian Renaissance, you should know that Durer journeyed twice from the North down to study with those masters during his life. You should probably also know that he was excellent at engravings and watercolors, mediocre at books, an absolutely repugnant husband, a worse poet, and that lovely hair you see in the portrait there, artificially curled and colored.”  
Gasps and giggles erupted.  
“Our last painting is going to be a self-portrait by Vincent Van Gogh, if you’ll follow me I’ll lead you to it. He’ll be wearing a straw hat but I can tell that under there, he has, had, the brightest red hair! And he fancied my mother in law.”  
River remained hidden behind her column. She leaned against it and stifled a laugh.  
She loved how much fun he was having.  
She sighed and turned slightly to observe the end of the tour.  
Both of them deserved days like this, she thought.  
The Doctor once again addressed his audience… "Well that concludes our tour… you can join back in 2 hours where we’ll be walking through the Relief Sculpture Gallery…”  
River watched as the Doctor sidestepped a group of clapping admirers and walked passed his fellow Docents toward the back of the gallery. There, a heavy wooden door was outfitted with a protective badge system.  
He pulled out his psychic paper, and watched the scan check turn green.  
The door unlocked and without a second glance, he passed through.  
River walked over, pulled out her sonic, unlocked the door, and followed the Doctor into the darkness.  
____________________________  
The door clicked shut behind River, and the lock engaged.  
She stood in complete darkness and held out her hand trying to feel something, anything, but found only emptiness. She was turning back toward the door and the wall, when two arms came out of nowhere and spun her into an embrace.  
She found herself there, squashed against her husband’s chest.  
“Professor Melody Malone, in the Storage Room, with … what’s your weapon of choice?”  
She pulled her bag off of her shoulder, “with a picnic basket.”  
The Doctor grinned. “Excellent.”  
He turned the light switch on in the storage room, and instantly everything was flooded by bright florescent bulbs. There were all manners of crates and broken frames, restoration areas, desks, and museum equipment. The Doctor pulled a heavy tarp from a set of boxes and sat down on the floor for lunch.  
River knelt down next to him and began to pull out items from her basket: fruit, sandwiches, and some thermoses with tea, which she’d picked up from the school cafeteria.  
The Doctor pulled off the Fedora and watched her hair tumble down around her face.  
“What on earth are you doing with this old hat… honestly if you’re going to repurpose my clothes his scarf would have made more sense in this weather…. and Plimsolls’ trench coat?”  
“Oh are we talking about repurposing, because I seem to remember those candelabras in our bedroom from some incarnations back when you liked to keep the Tardis lit up like the Phantom of the Opera’s layer!”  
They both laughed.  
“I would say I have no idea what his obsession was with candles, but as of a few hours ago I found a renewed appreciation.”  
River smiled and handed him a banana. He placed it in his jacket pocket for later, and instead went back to sipping his tea and enjoying the sandwiches.  
They talked about the museum, and his tour, and her lecture.  
They laughed about some of the prints the Museum and Gallery had, and the artists they’d known.  
___________________________  
The tea had warmed River, and so she’d discard her puffer jacket next to the trench coat.  
She was now only wearing the alluring white dress the Doctor had so begrudgingly admired at breakfast.  
He watched her move gracefully as she collected their thermoses and packed them away.  
She placed her foot flat down on the tarp and moved to stand up, but before she could rise, the Doctor had pulled her back and she fell against him.  
He pushed her hair to one side and began to softly kiss the nape of her neck. His arm wrapped around her ribcage and his thumb caressed her chest.  
She placed her hand over his. “Stop,” she whispered and turned her face around to meet him…  
His eyes locked to hers. Concerned, he inquired, “Is everything alright River?”  
“Would you mind turning the lights off?"  
"River, that door is deadlock sealed, no one will walk in…"  
"No, it’s not that…"  
River blushed, and the Doctor hugged her closer.  
"River, I don’t ever think I’ve seen you blush this shade before. What’s going on…."  
She licked her lips with trepidation. "I don’t know what to say…”  
“Whatever you need to say, I’ll listen…"  
She paused. Looked down in thought, then purposely elevated her eyes to meet his. “Doctor, you trust me completely, yes?”  
“Of course.”  
“I’ve know you, across time and space, across ages… every face that you’ve had, I’ve loved… the faces themselves of course, but also, I’ve just seen you no matter the face… In the light, I love to memorize every inch of you, the feel of every muscle, the sound of your voice, the light in your eyes, freckles and eyebrows and your chin….  
But in the darkness, I can let that fall away…”  
“Are you saying you miss my other faces?"  
“No!…And yes, of course I do... but not like that. The pain of regeneration, of the sudden change of it all, I know it too. You believe that who you were has died. That we carry on with just the memory. But Doctor, none of you are ever gone to me. Your face, your clothes, our adventures, not one moment do I forget….”  
The Doctor tried to kiss her, but she pushed away and continued…”There’s more, … the way that you bop my nose, the way that you pull my hair toward you, or bury your face in it, the way that you pause just before kissing me to let the warmth of your breath wash over my skin.. the way that you kiss the base of my neck like you did just now…no matter the face, it’s always been the same, and it’s always been you.”  
He looked at her amazed, “So, is that what it’s like to be married to me?"  
River smiled at him and shrugged.  
He leaned forward and bopped her nose. He held her face for a moment, dragged his thumb across her chin, then after he had tilted her head to one side, he buried his face in her hair.  
She sighed contentedly.  
He began to whisper.. "River, I…"  
She reached around him into his coat pocket. pulled out his sonic, and switched off the lights.  
"Doctor, shut up and kiss me.”  
________________________  
Walking back to her classroom, River smiled under the rim of her fedora.  
The Doctor himself had placed it on her head and kissed the tip of her nose before sending her away.  
She’d left him searching through the storage containers. He explained that the Tardis had gotten some nonsensical reading when he’d scanned the museum earlier, and he thought something must be skewing the signal.  
She wished him luck and rushed to begin her next lecture.  
She was going to be introducing archeoastronomy to the students. Showing them how how the stars and constellations had influenced the design of architecture across the Universe. She loved this lecture, she loved to show images of constellations that she and the Doctor had explored together. Show ancient pyramids and castles and churches and burial grounds all influenced by the stars.  
She entered her lecture hall and looked out at the seats, filled to the balcony with her students. She nodded at Nardole.  
“Let’s begin.”  
____________________________  
Three hours later, River entered her office, arms packed with books and slides and artifacts. She piled them onto her desk and turned around, surprised to discover the Tardis parked there in the corner. She ran through the doors thinking the Doctor must have finished early, must have sped up his last tour…  
But the console room, the kitchen, their bedroom, the library, everything was eerily silent. She walked up to the monitor and swiveled it closer to her, pressing the screen, determined to see what previous scan results had left the Doctor so disconcerted.  
The readings came up: a powerful discharge of energy had been detected from within the museum itself. But when River attempted to pinpoint the origin of the discharge or even rescan the museum, the Tardis computers wouldn’t process her request.  
When going through each line within the logs, she found strange chronon readings that suggested a fault in the order of time. It was almost as though somewhere within the walls of the museum time hand’t just been suspended, its order had ceased to exist.  
And if she knew the Doctor... and did she ever know that man… he’d be found right at the epicenter.  
__________________________  
River quickly entered the coordinates for the University Museum and Gallery.  
She had little doubt of the danger involved considering the Tardis’s angry resistance.  
When she attempted to engage the engines, golden sparks of electricity burst forth from every crevice.  
“We have to Old Girl, for the Doctor. I’ll get him back, I promise.” River whispered to the engines.  
They groaned loudly in response, as though she were pushing against an invisible barrier.  
Nevertheless, with a turbulent jump, they crashed down a short distance away.  
Upon landing River recovered her footing and ran out. She looked up and realized that she was just outside the glass doors of the Museum.  
River walked through the rotunda entrance, making a beeline straight to the reception desk.  
“I’m looking for the Doctor, I’m Professor Melody Malone from the Archeological Studies Department. Where can I find him.”  
A male voice responded behind her. “Professor Malone, it is an honor to have you here.”  
She turned around and was greeted by a short white haired man in the most garish… “Nice shoes.” she said extending her hand.  
“Thank you, I’m the Curator here, Karl S. Molesworth. You can call me Karl.”  
“Mr. Molesworth, I’m looking for my husband, the Doctor. He was meant to be leading tours but he’s missing.”  
“Indeed he is Professor Malone, can I call you Melody?”  
“No.”  
“Well, he never showed up for his later tours, the docent manager subsequently had to cover those tours and we had quite a few people who’d purchased tickets specifically for the Doctor that then demanded refunds.It caused quite a bit of trouble for us.”  
“My husband is missing and you’re worried about tour refunds?”  
“Perhaps he’s just wandered off?”  
“He’s not a puppy! I need access to the museum, I will find him Mr. Molesworth. I promise you that.”  
The short round faced man paled, but nodded.  
“Follow me Professor, I’ll walk around with you.”  
__________________________________  
Molesworth followed River as she found the nearest storage entrance.  
“We don’t have access to those areas…” Molesworth cautioned.  
“Maybe you don’t.” River said with a flip of her curls. She pulled out her sonic screwdriver and unlocked the door… “Come on.”  
He followed her slowly into the darkness. River used the sonic to flip the light switch, but the long florescent bulbs flickered on and off in protest.  
River pulled out her computer and began to analyze her surroundings.  
If she could just identify the chaos, separate what belonged with what didn’t, she could follow it to its source.  
She scanned the area, receiving the sonic bounce of results from each pinged direction, except a dark winding staircase that fed into the Museum sub-levels.  
Even with the flickering lights, the stairwell seemed to descend into nothingness, as though it radiated pitch darkness.  
River gasped and took a step back.  
The darkness from the steps was growing, it was spreading closer to her.  
River turned around and shouted at Molesworth, “Listen to me. There is danger here. Go and calmly evacuate everyone from the museum.”  
Molesworth ran to the nearest door panel and typed in a code, flashing emergency lights began to blare, sprinkler systems began pouring out fire-extinguishing chemical foam. Immediately the screams of the stampeding patrons and staff could be heard from beyond the doors.  
“You are causing a panic! People are going to be hurt! And you’ve ruined our cover. Whatever is down there now knows we’re coming!”  
“You’re angry at my efficiency?"  
“No, at your stupidity and callousness! Go and take care of Museum visitors, I’ll go on alone.”  
Through the blur of burning chemicals in her eyes, River could see the relief in his smile as he turned and ran away toward the Galleries.  
“Snake!” River mumbled to herself. She turned toward the stairs, reached out blindly feeling for the handrail, and began the long descent into darkness.  
________________________________  
It might have been confusion or fear, but River seemed lost on those steps.  
At times it felt like she was suddenly climbing, and at other times descending.  
At other times, just spinning in circles.  
She took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly.  
She had to center herself, she had to link her mind to the Doctor.  
But she reached out and nothing was there.  
The blaring alarm had ceased. She called out the Doctor’s name, but not even the echo of her voice returned.  
She was trapped in a bubble or lost in gap.  
River pulled out her computer, but it wouldn’t turn on.  
The only other thing that she had with her was her sonic. And it dawned on her, wherever the Doctor was, he’d have his sonic too. Their sonics were just like them, cut from the same cloth. If she pinged his sonic, even if he couldn’t reply, she’d know where the ping had gone.  
She filled her mind with the Doctor. All of his faces, and this face, the silky softness of the waves in his hair, the feel of his skin and his breath. She imagined opening her eyes and locking them with his. "Find him, bring me to him,” she whispered to her sonic, and then pressed the button to send the sonic ping.  
An invisible burst of ultrasonic waves radiated out from River’s screwdriver, her mind and focus both anchored them and gave them direction. They found the Doctor’s screwdriver and echoed back to her.  
With a sigh of relief, she imagined a path ahead and focused on finding the Doctor.  
She reached her hand out, and found a heavy wooden door. She found the handle and slowly pushed it open.  
The room was dimly lit, but she could make out a half opened crate which stood near the center of the room.  
River ran forward and scanned its contents.  
It was a vase, like a large Grecian urn, but distinct carvings that did not fit any artifact she had ever seen.  
Her computer beeped to life with results.  
But they empty.  
She understood, somehow this vase didn’t exist. It didn't belong in time. Not this time, not past time, not future time.  
A noise from above caught her attention and she gasped.  
A hundred long pointed black and ivory legs slowly descended from the ceiling.  
Each leg was at least 8 feet long, and ended with a sharp pointed claw.  
The sound of those claws, climbing down the walls created shrill screeches that pierced River’s ears.  
She placed her back against the crate and looked around.  
That’s when she saw the Doctor, bound with a rope and unconscious in the opposite corner of the room.  
________________________  
The legs belonged to some kind of spider-like creatures that River had never before seen.  
They stood taller than her, encircling her. The open crate her only protection.  
Each creature had 10 banded legs, black penetrating eyes, and on their back a spherical globe of glass.  
The globes had changing images that seemed to fade in and out, cloudy visions as though coming from dreams.  
She began to recognize the images, or rather she recognized herself, moments of her life with the Doctor played back like hazy movie screen.  
River spoke first. For comfort she held her sonic in her hand, though she wasn’t under any illusion that it work against them.  
“Are you chronovores?”  
They all hissed back at her, but one deemed to answered. “No. We do not feed on time, we do not disturb the Spiral Politic or the order of time.”  
“Then who are you?”  
“We were born beyond the node point. Among the creatures of the web we are known as the Aranei Reptatus. When the timelords first set down the structure of the Universe, they bore a hole into our world and we fell into the newly spinning web. We could not feed on time, but we observed it unroll, crystalize along paths, build structure out of chaos, and expand.”  
“Why are you here now.”  
“There are moments when the structure of the web of time bleeds into this world. Times of great pain and passion, moments that are believed to be impossible to erase. We can feel them vibrate the web. We find those strings and consume the excess. We take nothing from the order, but suddenly something that seemed immutable to your existence becomes as forgettable as what you ate for breakfast.”  
“Why the Doctor?”  
“We’ve been hungry for timelord memories. With most of them gone, we’ve been pursuing him, but he never stays in one place for long and the web of time is so large. But now, he’s been standing still with you. So we’ll have two timelords for the price of one.”  
______________________________  
River pressed her back into the crate as the Aranei Reptatus crept closer.  
She looked for a moment desperately at the Doctor. But she was going to have battle herself out of this one alone.  
She just needed a plan.  
What did he do?  
Always believe it will work.  
Always believe it will work.  
Always believe it will work.  
She looked back and climbed into the crate. She grabbed the heavy urn and pulled it toward her.  
“You’ve forgotten to tell me something, how does this tie in?”  
The Aranei Reptatus crouched down and hissed.  
Emboldened River screamed out at them, “Answer me or I’ll shatter it into a million pieces.”  
The eyes of Aranei Reptatus who had spoken to her earlier suddenly burned red like fire. “Even one shard is enough to allow us to remain. You are a timelord, you know that when the first thread of the web was anchored, it fractured infinite possibility. It forced rationality and causality to spread like a virus. But it’s so fragile. One tiny bite and the dominos fall out of place, and your Universe is torn apart.”  
“If you tear the very fabric of the Universe you will die along with everything else.”  
The creatures hissed again, all of their eyes had begun to glow red, piercing through the darkness in the room.  
Piercing into River’s soul.  
They continued, “Our people have been crawling along the timelines since their inception, feasting off of the emotion, but don’t mistake us, we will relish its destruction. The vase you are holding opened a portal into your world, its from a time before time.”  
River looked for a moment at the urn. She knew now what it was. It was timelord legend that when the ordered web was created, a sliver was preserved in case everything needed to be undone and reset. The 2nd Second the Doctor had called it. A tiny piece of the Universe from before the thread was anchored. This vase belonged to a time on Earth, before there was time on Earth. She couldn’t destroy it, but it could destroy the Universe.  
And as the frozen time around her stagnated, her Doctor was loosing more and more of the emotions to his memory.  
______________________  
River needed to act, and she needed to act now.  
She’d have to start by removing the possibility of a portal to the web.  
She needed to destroy this thing, this impossible void in her hands.  
She took a deep breath.  
This was gonna hurt.  
She dropped her computer into the urn and scrambled out of the crate.  
She aimed her sonic at her computer and activated the chronodyne generator hidden inside.  
Suddenly the sound of imploding ceramic crackled through the air, and the rush of time winds blew through the room, generating an explosion that threw the Aranei Reptatus and River into the air. They all crashed into the ceiling before falling back down.  
She hit the ground, landing on her knee. Gritting through the pain, she dragged herself across the dirty floor over to the Doctor and began to untie the ropes on his arms and legs.  
The Aranei Reptatus scrambled up in pursuit and began to crawl toward her.  
"You may have destroyed the portal, but we will only get stronger as we feast on the Doctor. You’re out of options River Song!"  
River held onto the Doctor with one arm and pointed her screwdriver at them with the other.  
“I’m promise you, you’ll find me equal to this task!”  
They hissed again and crawled closer.  
“We’ll consume you next, and gain enough energy to rip a hole into this Universe.”  
“You guys don’t get it. You can take us if you like, erase the feeling from our time, but I have every faith that we will still find each other again and defeat you. Emotion might touch time, but it doesn’t live there. As you’ve said, we’re timelords, the Doctor and I have unmade and remade and rewritten time and still we’re here. I’ve deleted myself in a million different ways from his memory and his life, and regardless we always find a way back to each other. And in all of those times the most important thing that I’ve learned is that time is never constant. It was him. This man. His hearts, his caring for the world, my willingness to help him, and our love for each other. Those were constant beyond time, before it, after it, and outside of it.”  
“You won’t have enough time, we almost have all the energy we need!”  
“Oh, did I forget to mention we’re not alone? You called me a Timelord, but I’m also the child of a Tardis. And she’s quite fond of both the Doctor and I. Can’t really blame her. I have a little Emergency Protocol she’s quite familiar with. I call it the bad date protocol, no reason, but either way you won’t be around long enough to know. Let’s hope you make it past the vortex and its reapers and the beetles and the leeches, but if you do, you’ll be at the end of times, and spoilers, it’s not just the stars that die… the Universe will have ceased to expand… gravity will collapse… galaxies will collide… and every molecule will freeze, just before the whole thing re-compresses right back into that tiny pre-big-bang dot. Placing whatever’s left of you right back where you belong, somewhere at the center of a blackhole… and all I have to do is push this button.”  
River pressed her sonic screwdriver and aimed it at them.  
The sound of the Tardis breaks filled the room as she towed the Aranei Reptatus hissing into the vortex.  
Wind whipped River’s hair around as the Tardis and creatures dematerialized.  
The Doctor moaned in her arms and slowly began to stir.  
River brushed a kiss to the top of his head.  
“Goodbye fellas. Have a nice trip."  
_____________________________________

River kissed each of the Doctor’s eyes and slowly they fluttered open.  
“River?”  
She smiled.  
She really hadn’t been worried he’d forget her.  
He tangled his hands in her hair and pulled her down to kiss her.  
He stops to get up, but she doesn’t let him go.  
He chuckles. “River, aren't you going to let me go?"  
“Not ever.” she responded fiercely, "Also you’re going to need to rebuild my computer."  
“I think you’ve earned it today.” He smiles and gets up but sees an expression of pain as he tries to pull her to her feet.  
"What is it?"  
"I think my knee is broken.”  
Panic reaches his eyes. "River let me heal you."  
But River refuses, shaking her head adamantly.  
She reaches out to hold the Doctor’s hands.  
“No."  
“Then let’s call the Tardis, we have to get you to the medical bay."  
“Sadly, she’s preoccupied at the moment. Don’t worry she’ll be back soon. But no thank you."  
"River this is madness." he kneeled down and gently looked at her leg. "You’re in pain, your knee is already swollen to twice its normal size and the side is turning purple."  
“I’ll be fine Doctor.”  
"Why are you being so stubborn! There is a…."  
But River had pulled him up and stopped his words with her mouth.  
“Listen, believe it or not I have a new appreciation for the complexity of time and emotion. Just for right now, I want… this to be real."  
“And it isn’t real without pain?"  
River smiled softly and looked up to meet his eyes. "It isn’t the pain. There’s always going to be pain. We can’t pretend to hide from it… But... I want to just take the time to heal. We have this time. Let’s make use of it. Let’s slow down. Plus, I’m a timelord, it won’t take long, I just want to live this moment with you. Let me heal on my own.”  
He nodded, picked her up gently and placed her in his lap.  
"So you got the evil spider things?"  
“All gone."  
"And the Curator?"  
"The curator!?” River growled.  
"Yeah, sadly he’s actually the one that knocked me out… he’ll probably be back any moment to check on things in here."  
“Great. What do we do now?"  
"Don’t worry, River Song, I have an idea." He bopped her nose.  
She groaned. "A good one?"  
“Good enough."  
He picked her up and carried her to the base of the sublevel spiraling staircase, he sat her gently on one of the many stacked wooden box crates that were just of to the side. From his pocket he pulled out the banana she had brought him earlier.  
He peeled it and shared it with her.  
Her mouth full she protested,"This is no time to be eating Doctor!"  
He shushed her. "You need the potassium to heal my dear! And I needed the peel.”  
He winked at her and tossed it at the base of the stairs.  
With that a pair of bright oxred patina oxfords stomped down the spiral staircase.  
The Curator's right foot squarely landed on the discarded peel and he slid headfirst into the heavy closed door, instantly knocking himself out.  
An incredulous laugh caught in River’s throat. “Wait, that was your plan!?!"  
The Doctor shrugged, "Actually it was."  
He hugs her and nuzzles the back of her neck.  
She moans softly, happily. "Doctor we don’t have time for that, we have to tie him up and turn him over to the campus police and notify the board of directors..."  
"Mmhmm in a minute, we're slowing down remember…” and so he kisses her again and pulls her closer.  
“Well, if you thinks so…"  
"See River, what do I always say? Always carry a banana."  
"How about I just always take you Doctor, and you bring the banana."  
"That works too!"  
She laughed, wrapped her arms around his neck and returned his kiss.  
"Um Doctor, was there just the one banana in that pocket?"  
The Doctor gave her a sly smile. "I don’t know River, perhaps you’ll just have to check."  
She laughed and did get quite a bit closer…. just to make sure.  
____________________________  
River’s white dress had ended up in tatters. There was a bit of blood from her falls, dirt and dust from the battle, not to mention tear-streaked from the Curator's sobs as they turned him in. The Doctor had carried her to the Tardis, helped her change (very thoroughly) and had brought them both to Alphonse’s for dinner.  
The Doctor was gallantly dressed in a deep midnight blue knee-length suit, and a silk blue embroidered vest that was set off sharply by his black cravat.  
And he’d pulled out a little black dress for River to wear: asymmetrically cut hem, bell sleeves, and the softest microbial cellulose leather from the 31st Century.  
He carried her in and placed her gently in her seat at their favorite balcony table, in front of the Singing Towers.  
The Doctor pulled the gas flame balcony heater closer to her so that she wouldn’t get cold, and ordered a bottle of champagne to be brought immediately.  
Alphonse, having heard that River was injured, rushed out to the balcony to check in with her and the Doctor. Their waiter scurried in close behind with their champaign.  
"What has happened?” Alphonse demanded, giving them both sympathetic hugs.  
But the Doctor patted him on the back reassuringly, before turning to open the bottle of champagne and pass it to River for approval. "Don’t worry Alphonse, my wife is made of sturdy stuff, she’ll be better in no time… Am I right my dear?"  
“Precisely, Doctor." River accepted the bottle and the cork and turned to Alphonse.. "Actually we’re here celebrating!"  
“Is it that the news that the Curator has been arrested? Word is already spreading all over Darillium!"  
"No, it isn’t that…” River smiled to the Doctor and began to pour the champagne into glasses.  
The Doctor walked to River and rested his hand on her chair. “As a matter of fact Alphonse, I was offered the Curatorship by the University Board of Directors."  
"Congratulations! Is that what you’re celebrating?"  
River and the Doctor turned to each other and chuckled before responding simultaneously, “No!"  
"But then?"  
"We’re celebrating the fact that I turned it down. And… “ he paused to let River continue…  
"And that I will be having Nardole assistant-teach half of my classes, indefinitely, and all of them for a while until my knee heals.”  
"That’s marvelous! A well deserved break?”  
The Doctor reached out and took River’s hand as he spoke to Alphonse, "No, not a break.. but rather a realization that no matter how much time we have left, we want to be sure to spend as much of it with each other as we can... because at the end of the night there will always be pain and there will always be regrets, but we don’t want THIS to be one of them.  
With her free hand River passed Alphonse a glass of champaign and then one to the Doctor. She raised her glass and admired the pink effervescent bubbles that floated to the top of her glass.  
She raised her arm in a toast. They copied her…  
“To what River?,” the Doctor asked softly…  
She smiled and looked at both of them… "To the right regrets?"  
They smiled back at her and dutifully replied… “To the right regrets!"  
But the Doctor didn’t take a sip until she met his gaze and saw him whisper an added oath as well, just to her.. “...Always and Completely.”  
She raised her glass again to him, and took a drink.  
_____________________________  
It was a lovely dinner. At his insistence, they had let Alphonse select and bring out a chef’s tasting menu.  
Like always he lavished too much on them and after several courses, he added on an entire tray of desserts.  
Replete with food and drink, and joyful from the company, the Doctor finally carried River home to the Tardis.  
He insisted on drawing her a hot bath, and was there to place her in the water, and take her out when she was ready.  
He wrapped her hair in a towel, placed her in her robe, and carried her to his armchair in their bedroom.  
There, she sat sideways so that her knee could be elevated while he fetched an icepack for the swelling.  
Honestly it was already looking much better.  
Satisfied with her care, the Doctor began to pull pillows off of their bed.  
River muffled a laugh. They seemed to have duplicated since the morning, you almost couldn’t make out the bed under all of them: king sized pillows and square pillows and round tufted pillows and a mass of cylindrical bolster pillows.  
The Doctor just stared on in disbelief, "Seriously where do these all come from? We’re going to need a new bedroom soon. They’re like rabbits! I think they’ve triplicated since yesterday!"  
Amused, River just shrugged.  
Annoyed at her nonchalance, he began surrounding her with pillows… gently stacking them on her, stuffing them behind her and under her and at her side, at last burying her face under two massively fluffy pillows.  
"What are you doing?” She called out laughingly from under the pillows.  
"Putting the pillows to good use!” he responded cooly.  
The Doctor turned around and began fixing the covers on their bed, turning down the coverlet and loosening the sheets, when suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blue velvet pillow with golden fringe fly through the air a nanosecond before it collided with his head.  
He looked over at River, with an outraged look of horror.  
She laughed and threw another pillow, hitting him squarely in the chest.  
There had been an uncalculated tactical disadvantage he conceded, in giving his wife all of the pillows.  
He scrambled behind her side of the bed and tried to reason with her….  
"Listen River, think about what you’re doing…"  
She only laughed maniacally. “I’m just putting the pillows to good use!”  
She continued tossing them at the Doctor, and he dodged them when he could, and pretended to be mortally wounded by the others. As he scrambled around he was strategically gathering them up on the floor in a mound.  
When almost all of the pillows had been thrown, he grabbed the softest round pillow, it was dove grey silk and covered in petals to resemble a rose. He ran over to her and pretended to gently swat back at her in defense.  
River couldn’t stop laughing.  
He took the remaining pillows away from her, tossing them onto the pile he had created on the floor.  
And then gently he carried her over and placed her on top of the pillows.  
“The cherry goes on top.” he said as he bopped her nose.  
Slowly he unwrapped her hair, then tugged tenderly on her belted robe until it fell away, and he could lean over and begin to caress her.  
He paused for a moment, his mouth still full of her breast. “River…"  
“Yes?” her voice guttural and raw.  
"Lights on or off…?”  
“Mmmm.” she wrapped her arms around his head, not willing to let him go, needing to pull him closer, “On.” she responded finally.  
______________________________  
Later, they both lay naked on their mountain of pillows. A few of the Somatoan down pillows had not exactly survived the encounter, and tiny feathers of soft cloudy down floated through the air.  
The Doctor was gently caressing River’s hands, memorizing the softness of her skin, the grace and length of each finger…  
She smiled watching him. "What are you doing?” she asked.  
He turned to her and smiled, “…Thinking."  
“About?"  
"Bald eagles…"  
She laughed. How did he always surprise her? "Why are you thinking about eagles?”  
"Do you remember them, from Earth, River?"  
"Yes, of course. They were large and majestic."  
"What else do you remember?”  
She paused for a moment to think, then almost lost her train of thought as he brought the hand that he’d been holding to his lips...  
"I remember their wingspan.” she replied, "I loved to watch them soar... And I remember their call. They sounded sweet and bright like seagulls but in movies they always dubbed them over to sound harsher, like hawks."  
"Some people,” he said turning to face her, “don't understand real strength.”  
He caressed her cheek with his knuckle and she blushed at the compliment.  
"Why are we talking about eagles, Doctor?” River inquired.  
"Do you know they mate for life? And they return year after year to the same nest. And year after year, they continually add to it so that it can literally symbolize and illustrate their steadfastness and fidelity to each other."  
"That’s amazing."  
"I saw one once, in wilder times, that was twenty feet across, and ten feet deep."  
River picked her head up comically, and looked around at their mound, "So if we were eagles…"  
The Doctor grinned at her, "I think that we might need even more pillows…”  
______________________________  
The Doctor didn’t want River to get cold, even as he continued to alternate ice and heat on her knee, so he carried her to their bed and made a perfect bridge of pillows to elevate and support her knee.  
He brought a book of Victor Hugo's poetry from the library and read it to her, looking over ever few pages to see if she had dozed off.  
She hadn’t.  
Unfortunately, though River was exhausted, she just couldn’t fall asleep.  
After an hour and a half of poetry, he leaned over and whispered in her ear, "River, you need your sleep to heal."  
She looked up apologetically, knowing he needed sleep as well.  
She sighed helplessly, "I’m too tired to fall asleep…”  
But the Doctor was already excitedly riffling through his nightstand for his sonic sunglasses.  
He put them on and after a second he said, “Don’t worry River, I know exactly what to do…"  
The sound of the speakers turning on made River half sit up in curiosity.  
“What is that?” she asked.  
"I thought you’d enjoy it, it’s an old archive recording from Earth that I found after our lunch in the museum storage area…” and then a low sound began over the speakers, like a heartbeat lifted in song, or the haunting overtone echo of a Tuvan throat singer, but much stronger. The Doctor smiled at her, “It’s the sound that giraffes make to each other at night.”  
River’s eyes widened, “They’re… humming?"  
"Yes, most of their communications are inaudible, their voices are low and infrasonic, however these can be heard at night."  
River snuggled closer. “It’s like they’re singing a lullaby to each other,” she exclaimed.  
"Did you know that they sleep only about 30 minutes each day, usually just a few moments at a time. They don’t sleep more because they might be vulnerable… so when they can, they fold themselves in…."  
He gathered River tighter in his arms...  
“They tuck their long necks down…”  
She shifted her head and rested it in the crook of his shoulder.  
“...and they take turns humming their reassurance,” he finished.  
"What are they saying Doctor?"  
He placed his cheek gently on her head. “They’re saying, rest, because I’m right here, and I’ve got you…”  
he kissed her ear, then whispered, "I can also say it in giraffe…” he hummed at her earlobe, the vibration of his lips tickling her and making her squirm and laugh.  
She swatted him playfully then reached for his hand and laces their fingers together.  
"No stop, listen with me. They’re beautiful."  
“Well I told you they would be."  
He brushes a kiss to her temple and upon looking down, noticed that she was already half asleep.  
He moved the massive mop of still damp curls away from her face to dry.  
Then he gathered her up, protectively closer in his arms, and placed an extra pillow behind his head so that he could watch her.  
Darn things were pretty useful.  
He closed his eyes and listened to the to the low enchanting throat song of the giraffes... and in another moment, drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please join River and the Doctor again soon, in their next adventure: Part 16 Bang, Bang!


End file.
